Bottom Line

Google recently bought Fossil's smartwatch tech, which makes the $255 Fossil Sport a little more intriguing than many of the other Wear OS watches on the market. And while the Sport predates this acquisition, it's not hard to see why Google was interested. Powered by the latest Wear OS hardware and software and featuring a simple, functional design, the Fossil Sport is to smartwatches what the Pixel 3 is to smartphones. Well, maybe it's not quite on par with the Pixel, but as far as Wear OS watches go, it's a pretty solid choice.

Comfortable and Functional

Based on its name, you'd think the Fossil Sport is designed strictly for the athletic crowd. And while it does have a sporty look, the aluminum ring around the display and matching buckle soften things, allowing you to easily wear it both inside and outside of the gym.

I tested the 41mm gray model with gold trim (it also comes in black, blue, pink, red, or yellow, each with different color trims). Unlike the Mobvoi TicWatch E2, it fits perfectly on my small wrist and the color combination creates a nice neutral look. For further customization, there are 28 additional watch straps, priced at $25 each. Those with larger wrists may want to opt for the 43mm case, which otherwise features the same specs as the smaller model. Both sizes are water resistant up to 5 ATM, so you don't have to worry about damaging it in the pool or the shower.

At 0.88 ounces and 0.47 inches thick, the watch feels almost weightless thanks to Fossil's smart use of materials. Sitting underneath the aluminum top ring is a white nylon base, which has the benefit of being both light and comfortable.

There are three controls on the side of the watch, one of which is the rotating crown. Rather than having to manually scroll using the touch display, moving the crown easily and precisely takes you through menus and notifications. The other two buttons are customizable and can be set to trigger any apps you'd like. For example, I set the top button to Spotify and the bottom to Google Fit, since those are the two apps I use most.

These controls are centered around the 1.2-inch AMOLED display with 390 pixels per inch. Fossil includes a variety of brightly colored watch faces to choose from, allowing you to showcase the rich, vivid colors the display is capable of producing.

New Hardware and Software

The Fossil Sport is one of the first smartwatches on the market powered by Qualcomm's Wear 3100 processor. It's designed to improve performance and extend battery life, both of which are issues we've encountered with previous Wear OS devices.

That said, I don't see a significant improvement in performance with the Sport against watches running the latest Wear OS 2.0 on the older Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset. Compared with the TicWatch E2, scrolling through the menu on both watches feels similar in speed and responsiveness. Apps like Fit Workout and Fit Breathe load in essentially the same amount of time.

Battery life on the Sport isn't wildly better than other Wear OS smartwatches I've worn, either. Fossil says the watch can last over 24 hours, though for me it was more like 12 hours with heavy usage.

When the watch gets down to 10 percent, it automatically goes into Battery Saver Mode, a feature included on the latest Wear OS that extends battery life for two more days (although all you can do is see the time when this happens).

Hopefully the watch will soon get Sport Mode, a promised feature specifically for Wear 3100 watches that hasn't been released yet. Sport Mode offers up to 15 hours worth of battery life with active heart rate monitoring and GPS. The watch goes into ambient mode and the always-on display showcases all your metrics including heart rate, distance, and calories burned throughout the workout. Qualcomm promises the feature in a future software update, but hasn't committed to a date.

Accuracy

The Fossil Sport's heart rate monitor is highly accurate. I compared its results with a Polar H10 chest strap and an Apple Watch for a one-mile walk on a treadmill. My average heart rate on the Fossil Sport and the Apple Watch Series 3 both came out to 128bpm, while the chest strap recorded 130bpm. I also took note of my heart rate across all three devices throughout the walk, and the Sport was only off from the chest strap by about three beats per minute at any given time.

Results were similar for a one-mile run. On average, my heart rate on the Sport was 164bpm compared with 169bpm on the Polar and 167bpm on the Apple Watch.

The Fossil Sport is also accurate when measuring steps. During the one-mile walk, the watch logged 2,370 steps to a 3DTriSport pedometer's 2,413 steps, for a difference of about 1.8 percent. Steps tracked during my one-mile run were also close, with the Sport logging 1,805 steps and the pedometer 1,867 steps, for a difference of 3.2 percent.

For distance, the Fossil Sport was spot-on, recording one mile for both my treadmill walk and run. I took it for additional distance testing on an indoor track where I ran half a mile. The Sport logged 0.28 miles after the first lap and 0.21 miles after the second. In comparison with the quarter mile that each lap measures, the Sport was off by about 11 percent for the first lap and 17 percent for the second lap. But when adding up the two metrics, the Sport recorded 0.49 miles in total. Using GPS will help deliver greater accuracy when running, biking, or walking outside.

Conclusions

The Fossil Sport is an attractive, comfortable Wear OS smartwatch that will likely improve in time with software updates. If you're new to the Wear OS ecosystem, this is a good starting point as you're getting the latest hardware and software for a relatively reasonable price. But so far the improvements aren't worth upgrading for if you already own an older model.

For smartwatch newbies, the Apple Watch Series 4 is also worth considering (if you use an iPhone). It's more expensive at $399, but it offers more extensive health and fitness tracking, including automatic tracking and the ability to take ECG readings. It's also home to a much larger third-party app ecosystem. And if you're primarily focused on fitness, you can save some money with the $199 Fitbit Versa, which offers guided workouts, female health tracking, and much longer battery life than the Apple Watch or Fossil Sport.

About the Author

Brenda Stolyar is a member of PCMag's consumer electronics team, covering smart home and wearable technology. She previously covered apps, phones, and wearables at Digital Trends. She owes her interest in technology to her grandpa, who gifted her a Dell computer when she was in second grade.

While she loves all things tech, Brenda also has a passion for film and music...as well as an obsession with celebrity gossip. When she’s not reviewing and writing about the latest gadgets, you can find her binge-watching reality TV on Bravo with her pet Chihuahua, Phoebe, by her side.